[Nettime-bold] (no subject)

[x@avu.cz (mb)]

 International Walter Benjamin Conference
                                             Barcelona - Portbou


              A public conference will be held at the University of Barcelona in
              September 2000 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the
              death of Walter Benjamin - one of the most important
              philosophers, literary critics, and theorists of culture and the
              media in the 20th century.

              The conference will focus on the current relevance of
              Benjamin's works and attempt a re-evaluation of their
              significance against the background of increasing globalisation.
              As Benjamin himself demonstrated, political arguments alone
              are inadequate for addressing the rapid changes in modern
              society, the revival of outworn myths, and sporadic outbreaks
              of nationalist sentiment. In his works he demonstrated
              interrelationships between philosophy, literature, film,
              architecture, technology, and social developments; he focused
              on questions of language, myth, and truth, and later in his
              career wrote major texts on film, photography, and the arts.
              Moving freely across the borders of different disciplines, in his
              academic and literary works Benjamin arrived at a vision of
              modernity which has lost none of its relevance today. His
              "Angel of History" is not merely a historical metaphor - it asks
              to be reinterpreted and given new meaning for future
              generations. Benjamin's works have exerted continuing
              fascination on generations of academics and intellectuals, from
              members of the Frankfurt School of Social Research around
              Theodore W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer to contemporary
              historians and philosophers dealing with theories of mass
              communication and the media.

              Benjamin failed in his bid for freedom when the Nazis swept
              through Western Europe. He was twice detained in French
              internment camps before deciding that as a German Jew it was
              best to leave Europe for the United States. He crossed the
              Pyrenees only to learn at the border that he would be sent back
              to the Vichy authorities with the prospect of arrest and transfer
              to the camps. The night before that could happen Benjamin died
              at the age of 48. Whether he committed suicide or died of a
              heart attack - as documented in recently discovered official
              papers in Portbou's archive - cannot be definitively determined.

              Benjamin's death in the small Catalonian town of Portbou on the
              Franco-Spanish border (Sept. 26th, 1940) has come to symbolise
              the fate of the countless millions who endured emigration and
              exile in 20th century Europe.

              It invites discussion of the ongoing calamities of nationalism
              and borders, exile, ethnicities and negation of the individual.

              This conference is intended for both academics familiar with
              the life and works of Walter Benjamin and artists, journalists,
              politicians, students, and people from all spheres of public life
              with an interest in the deep structures of contemporary society
              and culture.



http://www.walter-benjamin.org

 



_______________________________________________
Nettime-bold mailing list
Nettime-bold@nettime.org
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold